Now It's Up To You
by MiaMeadows
Summary: "On the gravestone lay a single white lily." "If Elphaba was beyond the rainbow then Glinda was going there too." I wrote this because I always thought Glinda would work it out eventually, even if it took her a little while.
1. A Lily

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked** **and I think it's the greatest, I just always hoped that Glinda would work it out eventually. **

A gravestone stood in the middle of the dark woods. The inscription only read "The Witch of the West is dead". On the gravestone lay a single white lily. Crouched on the ground, wrapped in a brown shawl and weeping, was Glinda the Good.

She knew, she knew deep down in her heart that Elphaba was good and yet somehow she had been killed with a bucket of water. It didn't make any sense. How could someone die because of water? Unless they drowned in it of course. But Elphaba didn't drown, and her sole was certainly not unclean. Pure water should not have melted her. And yet, all of this making sense, surely Elphaba was still alive? And if Elphaba was still alive then where in Oz was she? Why hadn't she told her best friend that she was ok? It didn't make any sense to poor little Glinda and she wrapped the shawl tighter around her shoulders in the growing frost of dawn.

Glinda thought to herself as she made her way back to her lonely room, in her lonely palace, that there could only be two possibilities. One: Elphaba was still angry at her for kind of being responsible for her sister's death and therefore she was giving her the silent treatment. Two: Elphaba was in a place where she couldn't contact her, and that would have to be a place, outside of Oz. A place, beyond the rainbow.

Well, if Elphaba was beyond the rainbow then Glinda was going there too. She didn't care if Oz needed her, Boq and the Lion were perfectly apt at ruling in her stead, and besides, she of all people knew that she was just a pretty face. Besides, she hadn't been able to make head nor tail of the Grimmerie and apart from cutting a lot of ribbons and kissing a lot of babies she didn't have all that much to do in her role as Glinda the Good.

So, she decided then and there to find her best friend so that they could be reunited once more, because, in all honesty, Glinda had been nothing but sad since she lost Elphie.

Unfortunately that little girl had already left and she had taken the ruby slippers with her and the Wizard had also scarpered in his magic balloon so Glinda was going to have to find her own means of transport. She only hoped a bubble was capable of transcending the boundaries of space and time. She was sure it would be adequate, after all, they were very pretty. The only problem was they were terribly small and cramped and left hardly any room whatsoever for packing any sort of belongings. She barely had room for her dress, though, as an afterthought she wondered if a set of travelling clothes may have been better suited to the journey. In the end she managed to carry the book in one hand and her wand in the other and she fashioned some pockets into the basket under her skirt to carry a little food and water, because, Oz knew how long she would be gone.

She bid her people adieu and they wept accordingly, but she did not waver, she had her mission and no amount of tears would keep her from finding Elphaba. Then she swept herself up into a bubble and floated into the sky.

She stopped at the castle first to look for clues. She hadn't been to that dreadful place since Elphaba's death, or lack thereof, almost a year ago now. Ivy vines had crept up the walls and almost hidden the stone from view. She had a dreadful time trying to rip away the vines from the door but eventually she managed and after smoothing down the crinkles in her dress she pulled on the handles.

The door didn't budge; of course it didn't budge it was huge and heavy and old and hadn't been moved in a year. Glinda started to despair before she realised that she was a witch and thus didn't have to do anything but wave her wand.

"Open door!" she said firmly and confidently.

It still didn't budge. She tried again.

"Open door!" she yelled.

Nothing. She never could quite get the hang of that wand. She gave the door a few good kicks and tried to think of something else.

She looked above her; fortunately it seemed there was no glass in any of the windows, so all she had to do was climb up the ivy to the nearest opening and slip inside.

Glinda hitched up her petticoats and tied them about her waist as she grasped the vines above her head and pulled herself up the wall. She got about halfway to the window before she realised that it would probably have been a better idea to fly up in a bubble. But this wall wasn't going to get the best of her now and she scaled the rest determinedly and collapsed in through the window.

Once inside she wondered what on earth she was looking for. She found all sorts of strange things like a giant crystal ball and a mortar which smelt like it may have been home to some sort of drug. It wasn't until she found Elphaba's cape lying on the ground that she thought she might be on to something. It was full of holes and covered in dirt and dust but as she lifted it off the ground she noticed that something was beneath it. A trapdoor. Glinda let out a little squeak and sat down suddenly on the floor.

Elphaba was alive. The trapdoor was proof that she had faked her own death and was now living as a fugitive. How had she done it? How could she have managed it all by herself?

And then Glinda realised. Elphaba hadn't been alone, and she wasn't alone now, she was with Fiyero. Her Fiyero. Glinda found herself wondering if going after her best friend was really such a good idea after all. Perhaps she didn't want to be found. Perhaps she didn't want to see the girl whose fiancé she had stolen and whose heart she had broken.

Glinda conjured another bubble and floated back down to the ground.


	2. Sepia

Glinda floated home is a bubble full of questions. She was debating with herself as to whether or not she should try to find Elphaba or leave her to live out her life with Fiyero. At least now she knew that Elphie was alive, or at least, that she had survived the melting.

When she arrived at the Emerald city she was greeted with hundreds of smiling faces and warm words of welcome.

"Oh Glinda we missed you so!"

"Glinda give us a smile please!"

And so on and so forth. But Glinda was melancholy. She trudged up the stairs to her bedroom and almost ran straight into Boq, the Tin Man.

"Miss Glinda! I have been looking for you everywhere, where in Oz have you been all day?"

"I had business in the West Biq which is none of your concern."

"But Miss Glinda we have all sorts of problems, we need your final decision on the theme colours for the midsummer ball next week and Lion wants you to help him choose a bow tie to wear to the Celebratory Dinner tonight and…"

"Biq I cannot deal with this right now." Glinda said and promptly slammed her bedroom door in his face. Then she flung herself dramatically onto the bed and pounded her tiny fists into one of the feather pillows a couple of times.

The next morning she sat at her looking-glass while an array of servants fixed her makeup and her hair. None of them noticed that she wasn't her usual bubbly self. (See what I did there?)

By eight o'clock she was looking perfect and polished in another extravagant gown and glittering tiara. By nine o'clock she was signing decrees that she knew nothing about. By eleven she was discussing foreign trade with the Lion who was still grumpy because, without Glida's advice, he had chosen to wear a puce bow tie which clashed terribly with his skin tone. By one she was trying to eat her lunch in a lady like manner, which is impossible when your lunch is Buffalo wings, it just doesn't work. By two she had made her decision. She was leaving. There was nothing for her here in Oz, she had no real friends and though everyone loved her she had never felt more alone in her whole life.

So, instead of attending the palace musical production of the life of Ozma of Oz she grabbed her wand and her book again and flew out the window.

When Boq came to find her that afternoon he found an empty room and a pink note. It read:

"Fellow Ozians, I regret to inform you that I have taken an extended leave of absence and am not sure at all when I shall return to the Emerald City, if ever. The reason for this absence is simple; I have left to find my best friend, Elphaba, or as you know her, the wicked witch of the west. My dear people, she is not wicked at all and I will explain to you why when I return with Elphaba and Fiyero again. Until that day, farewell and adieu, Your Glinda the Good xxxxxxx"

Boq read the note once, twice, a third time and then crumpled it, ripped it and threw it into the fireplace. Oz was his now.

Glinda was flying towards the castle once more but this time she knew what she had to do. Elphaba and Fiyero wouldn't have been able to leave the castle without being seen so they must have found a way to get over the Rainbow from there. The Wizard had done it, and that little girl, what's-her-name, why couldn't she? Sure, she didn't have a balloon or a pair of ruby slippers but she did have a bubble and that was infinitely better.

Elphaba was standing at her kitchen sink scrubbing a soup tureen. Out the window she could see Fiyero standing in their corn field. She waved at him.

There were a few good things about living in this world, for one, her skin wasn't green here, because, well, nothing was green there, or any other colour for that matter. She just looked a slightly darker brown than everyone else. Also nobody ever tried to kill her or her boyfriend or called them wicked, of course, they hardly ever saw anyone else; the nearest farm was an hour's walk away and they couldn't even nearly afford a car.

There were things she missed though, like singing and dancing, colours, her books and, of course, her only friend, Glinda.

It was crazy and she knew that. Why on earth did she miss that annoying little pink puff of a girl? The girl who didn't even know she was still alive. Even though she tried not to, Elphaba remembered the look on Glinda's face that last moment before she left for the third time that day. No matter how much time passed she could never get that image out of her head and she would never in a million years forgive Fiyero for not letting her tell Glinda that she was alive. And for what? Who on earth was going to come out here to find them? And even if they did there was no way that anyone would recognise her now without her green skin and in her new gingham wardrobe.

She sighed, it was pointless to deny, she was depressed. She hated their house that was falling apart at the seams, she hated being so alone and she hated farming. Farming was the worst.

She looked up at the sky and something there glittered. A tiny speck that reflected the sunlight. A tiny speck that started to grow until it was a tiny bubble. A tiny bubble that floated ever so lightly over their picket fence and landed on the front porch with a grace that could only mean one thing. Glinda had come to visit.

Elphaba dropped her tureen into the sink spraying water all over the kitchen bench and her apron. She ran outside so quickly that she tripped on their door mat and fell straight into Glinda's arms.

"Elphie!"

"Glinda!"

They were both weeping instantaneously and hugging each other with such a force that Glinda's dress was getting crinkled.

"How on earth did you find me?"

"I just followed your trail of destruction until I saw this dump of a shack and I thought who else could possibly live somewhere as tacky as that?"

"Thanks a lot," said Elphaba, breaking free from the embrace.

"Goodness Elphie, you look so washed out."

"It's not just me, look in the mirror."

Glinda stepped inside and looked in the hallway mirror.

Then she screamed.

Then she fainted.


	3. The Grimmerie

When Glinda woke she had a wet flannel on her forehead and was lying under an itchy woollen blanket. The blanket was brown, the flannel was brown, the room was brown and her skin was a very light brown. Something was terribly wrong here.

She sat up and the flannel slid off her face onto the floor with a wet thud.

"Elphie?" she said, a little more frantic than she had hoped, "Where are you?!"

Elphaba came rushing in from outside with a washing basket resting on her hip.

"I'm right here Glinda, don't worry, everything is going to be fine."

"You're darn right it's going to be fine, we are going back to Oz right now!"

"What? Back to Oz? You must have hit your head harder than I thought, have you forgotten that everyone in Oz thinks I'm dead? Not to mention how angry they'll be when they find out I'm not"

"Elphie, listen to me, we'll just tell them the truth, they'll believe anything I say."

Elphaba was silent; she sighed a couple of times and looked down at the pile of washing on the floor.

"By the way, where's Fiyero? Said Glinda, "I thought he came here with you."

"Oh he did, he's umm, he's just working out in the field at the moment, you'll see him later."

"Oh so, you're still together then?"

"Of course we're still together, what do you mean…"

"I was just asking, I mean he does have a history of…"

"He does not! Just because he cheated on you doesn't mean he'll do the same thing to me."

"I never said he would!"

"Whatever, besides there's no women around for him to see anyway."

"Well now there is," said Glinda as she flicked her hair a couple of times.

Elphaba glowered but she knew Fiyero would never leave her, hadn't he come all the way out here just for her.

"By the way," said Glinda, "where are we?"

"Kansas."

"What-ass?"

"Forget it, look Glinda I can't leave, I have a life here, I have a home and we're very happy."

"Don't be ridiculous, you just like it here because you're not green anymore."

"It's more than that…"

"You can't hide from who you are Elphie; you have to face your problems head on."

"Even if my problems are a bunch of witch hunters intent on killing me?"

"Oh get over it Elphie, we're just going to tell them it was all a big misunderstanding."

Elphaba picked the washing up again.

"Look, I've got ironing to do, feel free to help yourself to something to eat in the kitchen."

"Where is your vanity? I need to put my face on and do my hair."

"There is a mirror in the hall, which you no doubt remember."

"Can I borrow your makeup? I couldn't bring much with me except my wand and that damn book which weighs a tonne."

"Wait, the book, you mean, you brought the Grimmerie with you?"

"Yeah, do you want it back? I couldn't understand a word of it."

"Where is it?"

"I must have left it outside."

Elphaba ran out to the porch slamming the screen door against the wall on her way out, the book was lying on the welcome mat. She picked it up like it was a new born baby. Glinda watched her with fascination as she ran out to the corn field. Then Glinda saw Fiyero for the first time in a whole year.

He was standing alone. He wasn't moving at all. He was propped up on a pole. He was a scarecrow. A _real_ scarecrow.

"Oh my Oz," gasped Glinda.

Elphaba had reached his side by now and she was flicking through the Grimmerie frantically.

When Glinda reached them Elphaba was chanting spells and Fiyero was still standing there, unmoved.

"What happened?" Glinda whispered, as if she didn't want Fiyero to hear her.

"When we left Oz something happened to him, he went all limp and lifeless, I don't think magic works out here so, well, he just turned into a regular scarecrow."

"Oh my Oz."

"But now that I have the Grimmerie I can fix him, I can turn him back into himself."

"But Elphie this is perfect, if magic doesn't work out here the only way to fix him is to take him back to Oz."

"How will we get back? I've been trying for a whole year to work it out, my broom doesn't fly anymore, I don't have Nessa's shoes and I can't travel by bubble!"

"Easy, we'll find the wizard."

"The Wizard?"

"He came back too, and he flew in a giant balloon, if we find him we find the balloon and if we find the balloon we can get back to Oz, back to colours and hairdressers and music!"

Elphaba thought about it for a long time. Then she closed the book and stood up.

"Ok Glinda, let's find the wizard."

"Yay!" Glinda yelled whilst skipping up and down.

So they packed a picnic basket and walked down the dirt road towards town.

"So, umm, what have you been up to then Glinda? I mean, how's Oz? How are the animals?"

"Well, I've been very busy redecorating my rooms and everything, but Biq and the Lion have been doing a great job of running Oz."

"Boq and the Lion?"

Yeah, well, the Wizard announced to everyone in the Emerald City that he was leaving the rule of Oz in the hands of Fiyero and Biq and the Lion, his last little knife in my back."

"So, what is it you do exactly?"

"Well, I just look pretty for the most part."

"So, everything I said about it all being up to you now, you just sort of forgot about that?"

"No, I didn't forget but I had other things to do, like trying to understand that damn book of yours, I wasted so much time on that, I wish you had just taken the stupid thing with you."

"You were supposed to try and give the animals back their voices!"

"Well I tried ok, besides when you get back you can do that and I'll go back to looking pretty."

"Good grief."

"Anyway, I don't see you achieving anything great out here either Miss Elphaba."

"Ok fine, I guess you tried your best."

"I always do."

They walked on in silence, enjoying each other's presence more than anything else. More than the prospect of going home or the thought of saving Fiyero from his lifeless fate or even their future of helping the animals in Oz find their voices again. Thus it didn't seem strange at all when Glida's tiny hand reached out and took a hold of Elphaba's.

"I missed you a lot you know," said Elphaba.

"I cried for a whole year when I thought you were dead," said Glinda.

"I'm sorry."

"You should have told me you were alive."

"I know."

They continued in silence until they crossed a bridge and saw a wagon parked beside the road. Painted on the side were the words:

_Professor Marvel_

_Acclaimed by the Crowned Heads of Europe_

_Let Him Read Your Past Present and Future_

_Also Juggling and Sleight of Hand._

They had found the Wizard.


	4. Ruby Slippers

The Wizard was sitting on a log in front of a campfire cooking sausages. He didn't look well. His face was covered in untidy stubble, his clothes were tattered and dusty and the sausages he was eating looked slightly mouldy.

He didn't notice them approach until Elphaba had her hand on his shoulder.

"Hello Professor Marvel," she said with a chilling sereneness.

He was very close to having a heart attack; he dropped his sausage into the fire and, twirling to face them, managed to slip off his log into the dirt.

"Elphaba?!" he gasped, "how on earth did you, I mean, why aren't you dead?"

"It's a long story," said Glinda.

"Glinda the Good?" said the Wizard, looking up into Glinda's pixie face, "Now I'm sure I've lost my mind. What are you doing here?"

"Listen pal, we're the ones asking the questions ok?" Spat Elphaba, "So unless you want me to trash this caravan of yours you better start talking."

"What is it you want girls?"

"We want your balloon," said Glinda.

"My balloon?"

"Yes, the one that you flew here in, we want to take it back to Oz." said Glinda.

"I see, well, I'm sorry girls but I don't think I can help you, I sold it you see."

"You what?" glowered Elphaba.

"I sold it, to a travelling circus; they're probably half way around the country by now."

"Well that's just perfect," said Glinda as she bent down and picked up a sausage, skewered it and sat on the log to roast it.

"We can't give up now Glinda, there must be another way."

"Well I can't conjure any bubbles, you can't work a flying spell, we don't have a balloon and we can't wait around for another twister, what other options do we have?"

"Nessa's shoes."

"What?"

"Don't you see? That little girl used them to take her home, so could we!"

"Yeah but there are two fatal flaws in that plan, one we don't have the shoes, that girl Daphne does, and two even if we did they would only take one of us back," said Glinda.

"Not if we wore one each."

"What about Fiyero?"

Elphaba was silent again.

"Well, at least you could go home Glinda, back to the colours."

"Oh no, I'm not going anywhere without you."

"But from Oz you could work out some other way to get us back, and even if you couldn't, at least now you know that I'm alive."

"I can't do that, I'm rubbish at magic, all I've ever mastered is making bubbles and children can do that!"

"But you found a way to get here, I'm sure you could find a way to bring us home too."

"I don't know Elphie, what if I couldn't do it?"

"Well, you could always come and visit us," said Elphaba, "anyway, we haven't even got the shoes yet, why don't we try that first."

It was only then that they realised the Wizard had disappeared and so had his horse.

"You don't suppose he's going after those shoes too do you?" asked Glinda.

"Yes Glinda, that's exactly what I think he's doing."

"Well then I guess we better beat him to it," she said, standing up and brushing the dust off the back of her dress.

And then they were running, running as if their very lives depended on it. But the Wizard had two distinct advantages, one he knew where Dorothy lived and two he was riding a horse.

Luckily Glinda and Elphaba were able to follow his tracks and they reached the house only moments after the Wizard had knocked on the door and been invited in for a cup of tea by Aunty Em.

Glinda burst through the front door like an angry bumblebee and almost knocked the whole house down.

"Stop!" she yelled to no one in particular, and indeed it was to no one for the living room was empty.

She ran from room to room before she saw them, the little girl, with her hair in pig tails, and the wizard pulling a shoebox out from under a single bed.

"Stop!" she yelled again.

"Glinda the Good?" said the child, looking up into the face of her heroine.

"Hello Dorcas."

"Dorothy."

"Right, Dorothy."

"Give me the shoes!" yelled the Wizard, clawing at the shoebox in the girl's hands.

"Leave her alone!" yelled Elphaba, storming into the room like a rampaging tractor.

And then, of course, Dorothy started to scream.

And because Dorothy started to scream Uncle Henry came storming in like a rampaging semitrailer.

And seeing the Wizard on the floor next to his girl, well, he picked him up by the scruff off his neck and threw him out the door.

And then he set the dogs on him.

Back in the bedroom Glinda had stuck Dorothy's head between her knees to calm her down. She was staring at the floor between her feet and breathing heavily.

"Now Dorrit, this is going to be hard for you to understand but this is my friend Elphie and she isn't wicked at all, she is actually very smart and very caring and I need you to let me have those shoes back now because they belonged to her sister who you killed with your house and they're all she has left of her now, so can you do that for me please?"

They walked out of the house full of tea, cakes and hope.

"Ok Glinda, now all you have to do is whatever Dorothy did to get back home and you should get back to the Emerald city."

"Well that's easy enough, all she had to do was click her heels together a few times and say 'there's no place like home', I can do that."

"I only hope this works, here I mean, without any magic."

"It will."

"And once you get home you have to try and find a way to get me and Fiyero back and to convince everyone that we're good."

"Yes, yes, I'll remember."

"But just in case," and Elphaba threw her arms around her little friend and wept a bitter tear into her shoulder, "thank you so much for coming to find me."

And Glinda closed her eyes, clicked her heels together three times and whispered "there's no place like home".

When she opened her eyes she was in her bed, in her room, in the emerald city.

But the room was no longer pink and pretty, it was blue, and lying beside her in the bed was a sleeping Boq.


	5. The Dungeon

Glinda froze. Boq was curled up into a little ball, he was wearing pinstripe pyjamas and snoring quietly. Glinda was still wearing Elphaba's gingham frock but it was now a sickly green.

She tried to slide onto the floor unnoticed but Boq, sensing for the first time in his life that there was another person in his bed, reached out and put his arms around her waist.

Glinda was very confused; she had no idea what Boq was doing wearing his pyjamas in her bed. She was also very upset about the new blue décor; it had taken her weeks to pick out just the right shade of pink.

It only took her a few moments to remember that she had a mission and, since she didn't have much of a choice in the matter, she turned her head so that her mouth was right next to Boq's ear and yelled "Hey!"

Boq jumped a clean five feet into the air, which is very impressive when you're only five feet tall.

"Miss Glinda!" he squeaked, "I didn't think you would…I mean how did you…what are you…"

"No time to explain Beq," she said jumping out of bed and running out the door.

She raced through the city until she found a guard.

"You there," she said, "take me to the dungeons please."

"Glinda the good? Is it really you?"

"Of course it's me, I know the frock is hideous but…"

The guard had fallen to his knees and buried his face in the hem of her dress.

"I thought you were dead."

"Dead? Of course I'm not dead, didn't Buq read you my note?"

"No miss, he told us you were dead, fallen out your window…"

Glinda didn't quite work it out for a moment, but then her face scrunched up in realisation.

"Well, I'm certainly not dead so you can stop sniffling and take me to the dungeon please."

She was really quite angry.

The guard pulled himself together and led Glinda through the twisting and turning corridors of the city until they reached the dungeons.

"Who is it you wanted to see miss?"

"Madame Morrible."

"As you wish."

She followed his coat tails as they delved deeper and deeper into the very pit of the city. The air was stale and cold, the ground was damp and the walls were dripping with green moss. The only light came from the guard's lantern.

He tapped on the bars of a cell.

"Morrible, pull yourself together, Glinda the Good has come to see you."

Suddenly a haggard hand shot out from between the bars and grabbed onto the lantern, but the guard was young and strong and he easily pushed her aside.

Glinda approached the bars and saw the twisted face of her old school teacher illuminated by the lantern.

She had aged years in that tiny cell, her hair was white, her face gaunt and was wearing only a simple, filthy nightshirt.

"Madame Morrible," said Glinda, "I need your help."

For the first time her eyes strayed from the light and peered at the young lady before her. Then she cackled.

"You need my help Glinda the Good?"

"Yes, I need you to make another twister."

"And what exactly are you going to give me in return?"

"Your freedom."

The guard almost fell over but he could not stop the gnarled old hand of Madame Morrible from grasping Glinda's tiny fingers as she said "deal."

"Guard, bring me the keys to this cell, please."

He looked very reluctant but obeyed with a quick bow and scurried off.

"Why, may I ask, do you want another twister, planning on dropping another house on someone?"

"Not at all, I need you to bring Elphaba and Fiyero back home."

"Elphaba and Fiyero? But they're dead."

"That's what you think."

"How very interesting, so you want me to make a storm to bring back your best friend who stole your fiancé?"

"That's correct."

"Very interesting."

The guard returned with a key on a chain, he handed it to Glinda and she wasted no time in unlocking the door.

Morrible seemed almost reluctant to leave her cell, the only place she had known for the past year and she huddled back into a corner.

"You must understand Morrible," said Glinda, kneeling by her side, "we cannot let you roam freely in Oz, but I can send you to a very nice place where you will meet your old friend the Wizard."

She offered her hand and Morrible took it, steading herself as she stood up.

"Fine, now take me outside will you please? Out into the light."

"Very well."

When they reached the city doors almost every single citizen of Oz had thrown themselves at Glinda's feet blessing her return, they didn't even notice her ugly dress and the dishevelled prisoner at her side.

"Now you must keep your promise," said Glinda as she watched Morrible doing what could only be described as frolicking in the sun.

Madame Morrible stopped, straightened her back, and started to chant. The sky turned dark, clouds rolled in, it started to rain and thunder and lightning filled the sky. And then, then came the cyclone. And in the cyclone, spinning out of control was a tiny, tacky, sepia house.

As the house landed in the fields that had once held Elphaba's drugged poppies Glinda suddenly started to fret. What if Elphaba hadn't been in the house? What if Fiyero had still been out in the field?

No one stirred in the house. Morrible was rolling around the grass. Glinda was biting her nails.

Finally Glinda could bare the anticipation no longer, she ran to the house and threw open the front door.

And there they were.

Elphaba was standing in the living room and she was holding up Fiyero's lifeless scarecrow body.

It hadn't worked.

"Oh Elphie, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault Glinda."

"Bring him outside won't you, let him see the colours."

Glinda helped Elphaba support Fiyero's weight and between them they carried him outside.

As soon as they stepped out the door several things happened.

Firstly Elphaba's skin turned green again.

And secondly? Well, secondly, Fiyero woke up.


	6. And, of course, a ball

Fiyero blinked. He looked to his right then looked to his left. He tried to stand. Stumbled. Fell. Stood again. Then spoke.

"What on Oz happened to me?"

Elphaba couldn't seem to find it in herself to reply, she was too busy kissing him and letting her tears fall onto his face.

Glinda didn't respond because she was preoccupied running after Morible, who had a made a break for her freedom, and yelling obscenities.

She probably wouldn't have been able to get very far anyway but Glinda, in her greatest magical feat to date, managed to whisk her up into a bubble and send her away to the land of sepia and gingham. She couldn't bring herself to bestow any warm welcomes on the happy couple, so instead she snuck them in a secret entrance and gathered her people together."

Glinda was standing at the podium where she had once announced her engagement to Fiyero. She had changed back into one of her glittering dresses and already felt much more at home.

"Fellow Ozians," she said "I have excellent news; I have found the true heir to the throne of Oz"

The crowd started to murmur, mainly in confusion rather than excitement.

"She is the daughter of our great and noble Wizard."

The murmurs became excited words exchanged between people.

"She is very smart and very magnanimous."

A few people started to applaud in anticipation.

"And she is also my best friend."

Then they really started to cheer and whistle and carry on.

"Please welcome Elphaba!"

The noise was almost deafening by this point but Elphaba did not step onto the stage.

She was cowering behind the curtains and she was absolutely positive that this was a terrible idea. What if they hated her? What if she made them scream? What if they threw things at her? But Fiyero gave her an encouraging nudge and said.

"Don't worry, it will be fine, I promise."

So she pushed aside the green curtains and they walked onto the stage hand in hand.

A terrible hush fell over the crowd. No one screamed, no one pointed or threw anything. But everyone ever so slowly backed away from the stage.

"Citizens of Oz," said Glinda, "you may not recognise the man at her side, but that is Fiyero, the prince, returned to us because of Elphaba's bravery. She saved his life don't you know."

And still the silence endured.

"Please, don't let yourselves be governed by fear, Elphaba is good and she always has been!" yelled Fiyero.

"Is it true Glinda?" yelled someone brave from the crowd.

"Tell us Glinda, tell us how she can be good!" yelled another.

"I will," said Glinda, "it all started at school…"

When she had finished her story there was no one person in the whole of Oz without tears in their eyes.

Later that day Elphaba was sitting beside Fiyero in the throne room looking over the constitution.

Glinda was busy tying up loose ends.

"Boq you have been demoted and will return to Munchkinland where we will be keeping a close eye on you."

"Yes miss Glinda."

"And you, oh courageous lion, I have appointed you as the new principal at Dear Old Shiz, try and keep an eye on Doctor Dillamond and the other animal professors will you? And let us know if they start making strange noises."

"Thank you Glinda."

Then she picked up her skirts and climbed the stairs to her old bedroom where the re-decorators were already hard at work restoring it to its former glory.

She sat on her day bed window seat and stared out at the blue skies wondering how life would be now that Oz had a fair and just ruler who wasn't only a pretty face.

Elpaha knocked on the door.

"Glinda," she said, "Do you think you could help me?"

"What is it?"

"There is an inauguration ball tonight for Fiyero and I and I don't know what to wear."

"I thought you would never ask."

The End.


End file.
